Bill Roedy

Media Pioneer, Author, HIV Activist

The Bill Roedy speech on the power of media to save lives centers around the HIV epidemic. The former Chairman and CEO of MTV launched the most watched channels on television along with his team. Prior to his time at MTV he worked as the Vice President of HBO. His career began as an officer in the United States Army where he qualified as an Airborne and Army Ranger in addition to being a decorated Vietnam War veteran and nuclear missile base commander in Italy as part of NATO during the Cold War.

In 1998 he was named a UNAIDS ambassador. At the time he worked at MTV, where he used a powerful connection to youth and wide distribution to launch the largest HIV campaign in the world. The Bill Roedy speech discusses how the Staying Alive Foundation got its start. The speaker also wrote a book called What Makes Business Rock.